Comments on: Telling Numbers for ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs': Poor Sales Despite Good Buzzhttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/
New York Times BlogMon, 24 Jan 2011 00:15:24 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/section/NytSectionHeader.gifNYThttp://www.nytimes.com
By: Chicago readerhttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84719
Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:39:41 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84719@ Comment 16 above–There are masturbation jokes in Brighton Beach Memoirs. Simon was way ahead of his time.
]]>By: Evanhttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84717
Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:08:46 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84717It was a beautiful revival – the economics of Broadway aside, I’m sad that more people did not have the opportunity to see it.
]]>By: Laurahttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84715
Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:30:23 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84715All four of the adult actors in the two plays– Laurie Metcalf, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jessica Hecht and Allan Miller (who wasn’t seen as his character is only in the second play, Broadway Bound, that never even previewed)– live in LA. Without the cost of flying all the actors into town, maybe LA will luck out and get the plays done there– in rep from the beginning.
]]>By: charles grippohttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84713
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:01:53 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84713Brando opened in Streetcar in December, 1947 — not exactly last week. But if you want to do some average price comparisons, ok — here goes
1947 2009
Bread (1 lb) $0.14 $3.19
New Ford $1,393 $20,900
Milk (1 gal) $0.82 $3.99
Gas (1 gal) $0.27 $2.37

For those of you who are still dreaming of/longing for 1947 prices, I have a news bulletin for you — it’s not 1947 — it’s 62 years later. We’re in 2009, soon to be in 2010. Please join the rest of us in the 21st century.
Thank you

]]>By: charles grippohttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84711
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:55:29 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84711For those of you who don’t like revivals, then I suppose we should also put Shakespeare, Shaw, Williams, O’Neil, Miller, Chekhov, Sophocles, etc., into the dustbin of time and let the sanitation people throw them into the dump. And while we’re at it, no sense reviving old movies either, right? Nothing released before 2009? Oops — there go Hitchcock, Ford, Wellman, Hawks, Lean, et al. And why bother with Schindler’s List — that was about something that happened — what is it now — almost 70 years ago? And old television programs on the nostalgia channels — you’ve got to be kidding. While we’re at it, let’s toss out all the literature written before 2009 —- good-bye Twain, Dickens, Hawthorne, Poe, we don’t want you anymore. Music? Who needs Beethoven, Mozart, Verdi, Bernstein, Copland, Gershwin, Berlin, etc.? Bye, guys.
Instead let’s just focus on the here and now — you know the real food for our brains — reality TV, Jon and Kate, Hannah Montana, movies that are all CGI effects and no story and character development, torture horror (oops, sorry that was so 2008, just slipped in there by mistake), the latest celebrity/political sex scandal (take your choice). Gosh, my mind is so stimulated now.

What that you say? We can learn things from the plays/literature/music, etc., of the past? Things we can relate to our own lives today? Who wants to learn? Doesn’t that take work? Sorry, we don’t go in for that.

]]>By: Jeff Sweethttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84709
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:30:54 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84709Blanket statements about revivals strike me as thoughtless. The two productions I liked best last season — MARY STUART and THE NORMAN CONQUESTS — were both revivals. There has to be a good reason for a revival, of course. The excellence of the ensemble and the subtlety of Cromer’s direction were more than enough reason for me for BRIGHTON BEACH.

Am delighted at the prospect of both RAGTIME and NIGHT MUSIC in one season, and very much looking forward to Cromer’s take on PICNIC (in Chicago the response was extraordinary).

A good season is a rich mixture of new stuff and revitalized older works, stuff that celebrates the community’s values and stuff that challenges it. To make general statements that one category of production is not welcome is like saying, “No more vegetables at dinner.”

]]>By: David Wolvenhttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84707
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:28:17 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84707I agree with most of the comments which state a price of $92.50 for a revival of Brighton Beach is much too much. What happened to the days when I saw Titanic- the Musical for less than $50. Sure – the cost of putting on a show is very expensive but the average theatre person cannot afford $100 nowadays.
]]>By: Kim Vhttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84705
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:11:43 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84705I don’t want any more revivals either, not of BBM and and not of anything else, and certainly not at a hundred bucks a ticket. But I will defend the fabulous Mr Simon to the death. Rooted in sitcom writing of the past? Eh, has no-one noticed that Two And A Half Men, the top-rated sitcom of the moment as far as I’m aware, pretty much *is* The Odd Couple, only with masturb&tion jokes?
]]>By: Markhttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84703
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:35:32 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84703Just saw Memphis and I loved it.
]]>By: KayWinterhttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84701
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:20:25 +0000http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/brighton-beach-memoirs-wasnt-alone-weekly-broadway-grosses-were-down-for-most-shows/#comment-84701i feel so sad about this play not doing well. I really feel it is about the ticket prices. Everything adds up. People can only spread themselves so thin. Many people work longer hours and don’t go out at night in the middle of the week. A Wednesday through Sunday production schedule may save some money. Also traveling Broadway shows are putting a dent in true Broadway. Are we ruining Broadway for the next generation? It may disappear!
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